Thursday, October 16, 2014

Aerolineas Argentinas F-28 Mk-1000, LV-LRG, (c/n 11046) at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP). (Phil Perry Collection)LV-LRG was originally delivered to Germanair on 10Mar72 as D-AGAB being transferred to Aerolineas Argentinas as LV-LRG four years later on 24Mar76.Like sistership LV-LOC (c/n 11083), LV-LRG was scheduled to join the fleet of Austral in August 1991 and SASA (Sudamericana de Aviacion S.A.) in April 1994 but neither transfer was completed. The aircraft was broken up in June 1996. Source:http://loudandclearisnotenought.blogspot.com.ar/2010/04/lv-lrg-fokker-f-28-fellowship-mk-1000.html

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Alas Rionegrinas Fairchild Swearingen SA-227-AC Metro III, LV-RBR, (c/n AC-416) at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) sometime in the 1990's. (Phil Perry Collection)Metro AC-416 was first delivered to Midstate Airlines of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA (near Chicago) as N177MA in 1981 and operated with the commuter airline until its closing in 1989 after which it flew as a company plane for a couple of corporate operators before finally joining SAPSE (Servicios Aereos Patagonicos, S.E.), parent of Alas Rionegrinas as LV-RBR in 1991. AC-416 operated with Alas Rionegrinas until its closing in 1997 and its last known location was Viedma (VDM) in derelict condition.Photo of this aircraft operating for Midstate Airlines at Chicago O'Hare (ORD) as N177AM in August 1986:http://www.airliners.net/photo/Midstate-Airlines/Fairchild-Swearingen-SA-227AC/0004822/L/&sid=94f4f0368bca1056966d694ed3ea6525

Friday, October 10, 2014

With the ever-increasing number of Boeing 787's being delivered to airlines, new routes are opening up worldwide that were previously economically unviable due to limited demand, such as Boston (BOS) - Tokyo Narita (NRT) by Japan Air Lines and Boston (BOS) - Beijing (PEK) operated by Hainan Airlines.The 787 is ideal for long-range routes with limited passenger traffic that until recently could only be operated by larger and less fuel-efficient airliners, such as the 767-300ER, A340-500, 747-400, etc., but that were too large for the amount of demand on such routes. Thinking of Argentina and Uruguay, several routes come to mind that are now served on a limited basis, less efficiently than they could be, or not served at all. Montevideo (MVD) - Miami (MIA) is currently flown by American Airlines with 767-300's daily in the southern hemisphere summer and 6x/weekly the rest of the year but could probably be served much more efficiently and profitably with the 787 as there are probably many dates when the present flights are not very full. Montevideo (MVD) - Madrid (MAD) service was dropped by Iberia in 2013 and picked up by Air Europa with Iberia currently scheduled to restart service. If the 787 were flown on this route the service would probably be more profitable and stable and less marginal like it is now which has resulted in airlines adding/dropping the route. Cordoba (COR) - Miami (MIA) would be an ideal route for American Airlines with 787's. Indeed, American was seriously looking to start this route in the early 2000's but put these plans on hold after the 2001 Argentine economic crisis. Cordoba, with a population of 1.2 million people, is Argentina's second-largest city after Buenos Aires and is known for its universities, extensive farming and its manufacturing industry, especially automobiles. It is also located in Argentina's geographic center with important cities nearby, such as Rosario, the nation's third-largest city which would probably provide passenger traffic to Miami flights from Cordoba. Cordoba (COR) - Madrid (MAD) was flown by Iberia with A340's for 15 months until January 2012 but the Spanish carrier dropped the route due to lack of aircraft and marginal profitability despite good passenger loads. Air Europa would like to start this route through a connecting hub that it is planning to establish in Salvador, Brazil (SSA) for flights from Madrid to several South American cities but it has yet to gain approval from the Argentine aviation authorities. This route would be ideal on a non-stop basis with the more fuel-efficient 787 probably being a lot more profitable and sustainable than the A340 was.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Austral Lineas Aereas was set to introduce daily Embraer 190 service from Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) to Florianopolis, Brazil (FLN) in August. Sister airline Aerolineas Argentinas reportedly currently operates 1x/weekly service from Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) to Florianopolis, Brazil (FLN) on Saturdays using 737-700's. The new service was scheduled to depart Ezeiza at 23:30 arriving at FLN in the early morning and arriving back in EZE at 04:20 thus putting the aircraft to use generating revenue when normally it would be parked overnight.However, www.flightstats.com does not show either flight operating on any day of the week as of the day of this post. The new flights will see an increase of the Aerolineas Argentinas / Austral group's presence in Brazil which currently consists of 88 weekly flights.Source:http://www.siscoma.com.ar/online/aviacion/2014/avn140501/avn-140501.html

Saturday, October 4, 2014

TAM Airlines added three more flights per week from Montevideo (MVD) to Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU) effective 08Jun14 for a total of 3-4 flights per day plus it added new 4x/weekly service to Rio de Janeiro Galeao (GIG), effective 30Jun14, both using the carrier's A320 equipment.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

A little over a year after dropping Madrid (MAD) - Montevideo (MVD) service when the carrier was going through financial difficulties, Iberia restarted the route on 01Sep14 3x/weekly with A340-300's. The very first flight was operated by A340-642X, EC-LFS (c/n 1122) painted in the airline's new colors. Iberia's flights were Uruguay's only direct service to Europe at the time that the airline dropped the Madrid (MAD) route but Air Europa and Air France came in to fill the void shortly thereafter, the latter with same plane service to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) via Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE).

About Me

I was born in Uruguay but moved to the US when I was a young boy.
I worked for Air North and Brockway Air at Boston's Logan Airport and for Quebecair and Finnair in outside sales, the latter for 15 years.
I still have relatives in Argentina.